*Article* **Determination of the Lignocellulosic Components of Olive Tree Pruning Biomass by Near Infrared Spectroscopy**

**José Luis Fernández 1, Felicia Sáez 1, Eulogio Castro 2, Paloma Manzanares 1, Mercedes Ballesteros 1 and María José Negro 1,\***


Received: 30 May 2019; Accepted: 26 June 2019; Published: 28 June 2019

**Abstract:** The determination of chemical composition of lignocellulose biomass by wet chemistry analysis is labor-intensive, expensive, and time consuming. Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy coupled with multivariate calibration o ffers a rapid and no-destructive alternative method. The objective of this work is to develop a NIR calibration model for olive tree lignocellulosic biomass as a rapid tool and alternative method for chemical characterization of olive tree pruning over current wet methods. In this study, 79 milled olive tree pruning samples were analyzed for extractives, lignin, cellulose, hemicellulose, and ash content. These samples were scanned by reflectance di ffuse near infrared techniques and a predictive model based on partial least squares (PLS) multivariate calibration method was developed. Five parameters were calibrated: Lignin, cellulose, hemicellulose, ash, and extractives. NIR models obtained were able to predict main components composition with R2cv values over 0.5, except for lignin which showed lowest prediction accuracy.

**Keywords:** lignocellulosic components; feedstock analysis; near-infrared spectroscopy; olive tree pruning
